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Koobface worm dons tinsel to snag seasonally-affected marks

SatAnic SantA shenAnigans

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Festive miscreants have begun using Xmas-themed lures to push the Koobface worm.

The attack starts off with post from fake or pwned Facebook profiles that point to supposed video clips. Following these links takes users to a fake YouTube site that claims users need to install a Flash Player update to watch these "movie clips".

In reality this supposed codec is the download component of the Koobface worm, an approach seen several times over recent months with previous versions of the worm. This time around the fake video poses as a message from SantA, a tactic cynically designed to appeal to youngsters, instead on the usual run of smut or celebrity-themed flicks.

Trend Micro has a write-up of the attack here. The Koobface worm is not the first item of badware to cloak itself in a seasonal guise this year - Trend reports that it detected somewhat prematurely Xmas-themed spam running as far back as September.

Judging from previous years, the emergence of more seasonally-themed malware and spam runs is a safe bet. ®